Open, preview and download a file
Opening a file in Drive decrypts it on your device. What can be shown in the browser, what has to be downloaded, and how downloading works.
Opening a file in Drive fetches the encrypted bytes and decrypts them in your browser. Nothing readable is produced on our side, which is also why some files can be shown and others can only be downloaded: the preview is whatever your own browser can render.
Open a file
Double-click it in the list, or open its menu and choose Open.
On a wide screen the file opens as an overlay over the folder: a dark backdrop, the file's name and which folder it is in, your position in the folder — 6 of 13 — the FULLY ENCRYPTED — END-TO-END pill, and Download, Delete and a close button. The ← and → arrows step to the Previous file and Next file in the same folder; Esc closes it. A hint in the corner says ← → next file · Esc closes.
Rename and Move are not on the overlay — they stay in the row's menu in the list behind it. There is no Share button and no Versions button, because neither exists in this version.
With nothing selected, the pane reads Select a file to open it.
On a narrow screen the file gets a screen of its own at /drive/file/…: a back chevron, the name, a line reading folder · size · modified, the encryption pill, the file itself, and a bar along the bottom with Download, Rename, Move and Delete.
While the file is being fetched and decrypted you see Decrypting…. If that fails, the message is This file could not be opened.
Under every preview is the same caption: Opened in this browser only — the copy on our servers stays unreadable.
What can be previewed
| Kind | Shown as | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Images | The picture | SVG files are not previewed |
| Your browser's own PDF viewer | ||
| Text | Monospaced, selectable text | Includes JSON and XML; only the first 2 MB is shown |
| Video | A player with normal controls | Whatever formats your browser plays |
| Everything else | Not previewed | An icon, This file type cannot be shown here. and Download to open |
Office documents, archives, audio and anything unusual fall into the last row. Drive does not pretend to have a viewer it does not have — it names the file type, for example PDF document, Word document, Spreadsheet, Presentation or ZIP archive, and offers the download.
A thumbnail would normally be made by the server, and our server cannot read your files. So thumbnails are made on your device, from images small enough to be worth fetching — about 1 MB. Everything else shows a file-type icon. A large photo has no thumbnail in the list, which is not a fault.
Details
Choosing Details in any row's menu opens a small panel with the file's name, its type and size — PDF document · 4.2 MB — when it was added and which folder it is in, for example Added 15 Sep 2026, 21:10 · In Tax. For a file that cannot be previewed, the panel says This file type cannot be shown here — Download to open it. and offers Download.
Double-clicking a file that cannot be previewed opens Details rather than an empty viewer.
Download a file
Open the file's menu and choose Download, or press Download on the open file.
Your browser fetches the encrypted file, decrypts it on your device, and then saves it with your ordinary browser download. The decrypted copy exists only on your computer; the copy on our servers stays encrypted and unreadable.
Select several files and the selection bar offers Download 3 files, which saves them one after another.
Opening a file and then downloading it does not fetch and decrypt it twice — the decrypted copy is held briefly in the tab's memory and is thrown away when you sign out or close the tab.
Drive, including downloads, is in the web app only. The Android and iPhone apps do not have Drive yet — see Web app vs native app.
What our server sees while you read a file
Cannot see
- What you opened — it has no name or type to log, only an identifier
- The decrypted contents, at any point
Can see
- That an encrypted object of a certain size was fetched
The download goes through our server, which hands your browser the encrypted bytes; your browser never talks to the file storage directly and never sees a storage address.
Common questions
Can I edit a file in Drive?
No. Drive stores files; it does not open them for editing. Download it, change it, and upload the new copy — which is a separate file, because there are no versions.
Why does a text file stop part-way?
The preview shows the first 2 MB. Download the file to see all of it.
The preview says the file could not be opened.
The decryption failed in your browser. Reload the page and try again; if it persists, download the file and check it on your computer. Our support cannot open it for you — we have no key.
Can I print a file from Drive?
Only through your browser, from a preview it can show (a PDF, for example). Otherwise download it first.
Does opening a file send anything to anyone?
No. Previews are rendered locally; no external request is made for the file's content, and no tracking is possible from inside it any more than from a downloaded copy.